Most automotive advertising agencies have learned to use today’s automotive advertising technologies to blur the line between the real and the virtual world as they help build virtual showrooms on the Internet Super Highway to supplement their auto dealer client’s real world brick and mortar facilities. However, a growing number of new automotive advertising vendors have entered the market to focus on old world telephone techniques that may have been overlooked in today’s Internet driven marketplace.Automotive advertising Agencies have accepted a new role in today’s challenging economy that includes whatever it takes to sell vehicles and service. Automotive advertising agencies can no longer limit their areas of responsibility to bringing traffic to the front door. Internal selling systems integrated with technology driven processes that link their virtual online showrooms with their brick and mortar facilities share a common element that has survived intact on the Internet Super Highway – human nature. The people part of any process is often the weakest link and telephone skills are still an integral component of communication systems in real and virtual world auto dealerships.New customer interaction platforms offer a two way video online transaction platform that promises to push through the glass wall between salespeople and their online shoppers. The expectation is that developing online transaction tools will eliminate the need for online sales people to disengage from their initial customer interaction with an email to deliver information or even a telephone call to schedule an appointment. Unfortunately, the vast majority of today’s buyers still prefer to keep the glass wall up between themselves and the sales person to allow them time to make a decision; and that is where and why most dealerships drop the ball.The people skills needed to maintain control over a customer have always been important. However, the Internet has empowered consumers with the ability to gather information from sources other than the auto dealer so now they are critical to the survival of an auto dealership in today’s challenging economy with reduced sales volume and profit margins. Today’s educated consumer demands that all online communications, including telephone calls to gather information not provided on the websites, are transparent and relevant. Sales people still need to provide information about themselves and their dealership to differentiate them from competing online dealerships and information resources. However there is a fine line between relationship based selling and self serving sales hype; that’s where new telephone support services using web based training, managing and monitoring can help.Automotive advertising agencies and their auto dealer clients understand the importance of maintaining telephone skills. Telephone training has always held a priority position in any comprehensive plan. You must inspect what you expect and managing and monitoring telephone calls, both in-bound leads and out-bound follow-up, is job one for many sales managers. However, the immediacy of today’s Internet demands and the limited tolerance of online shoppers have required more management oversight and support than previously needed or even possible give the limitations of monitoring systems and processes in most business development and/or call centers. New vendors entering this arena provide a combination of one-on-one training, outsourced resources and web based managing / monitoring functions that promote best practices with easily accessed R.O.I. analytics to prove that the job is getting done.Of course automotive advertising agencies must continue to focus on bleeding edge website conversion tools and lead generators to generate the phone calls. Applications that provide NADA sourced appraisal values for online consumers with inventory information to select a replacement vehicle with consumer friendly lead generator tools are still needed to get the phone to ring. Similarly, agencies should continue to advise their auto dealer clients to invest in online lead sources like consumer-centric inventory based marketing platforms powered by social media – and automated video production platforms producing interactive videos posted on an auto dealer’s website as well as individually indexed onto You Tube driving leads back to the dealer’s CRM to get the phone to ring. However, automotive advertising agencies also need to insure that when the leads are generated that they are handled properly on the telephone or the leads are wasted and the R.O.I. from these new online marketing platforms are diminished.Properly integrated telephone training and monitoring applications using new technologies and Internet powered access for outsourced support services can help to blur the line between the real and the virtual world as well as any other online platform. A combination of best practices and technology can create the efficiencies needed to maximize the R.O.I. for auto dealers before, during and after the sale. All too often automotive advertising agencies neglect to look in the rear view mirror to apply yesterday’s best practices to today’s selling processes to build tomorrow’s opportunities.People skills are still job one when it comes to selling vehicles and service. The filter that the telephone places between a sales person and a customer is as much of an obstacle as the glass wall that separates the lanes on the Internet Super Highway is. In both cases, modern technology can be applied to overcome the one constant that exists in both challenges – human nature.
Automotive Advertising Agencies Use New World Technology to Teach Old World Phone Skills to Dealers
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Bootstrap Financing Boot Camp – A Crash Course in Business Start Up Funding – Tactical Maneuvers
Attention! Are you ready to enlist in Bootstrap Financing Boot Camp? TODAY’S MISSION: Business Start Up Funding Tactical Maneuvers. Start Up Soldier, I’m going to be giving you a crash course in how you can start a small business, without BIG bank loans. Before you can get started, you must first pass through 3 check point pre-screenings.Check Point 1: Do You Have What it Takes?Are you willing to travel through rough and tough terrain, without going A.W.O.L.? Do you understand the risks involved with starting up a new business? Think carefully cadet — and remember, nothing worthwhile is ever going to be easy.Check Point 2: Are You Willing to Do Whatever it Takes?Are you ready for hand-to-hand combat with your bank book? You must be willing to make personal sacrifices to get the job done? Essentially, living with less to gain more. Will you do whatever it takes to get to where you want to be? Will you show no mercy and cut back on frivolous expenditures, like satellite TV?Check Point 3: Do You Know How to Take…?…Orders that is soldier! Can you take orders? Not for fries and a shake, but direction from others. Are you willing to learn something new, or to try unfamiliar ways of doing something quite ordinary? If you aren’t teachable, then bootstrap financing is not for you. You see, it goes against the grain — the established ways of doing things. Most “experts” will tell you that the only way to start a business, is if you have access to some major cash of your own; or if you’re willing to borrow from banks or investors willing to front you the business start up funding you need.Congratulations – You’ve Just Earned Your Stripes!You’ve made it. You are no longer a cadet, but a full fledged Start Up Soldier – and you have the battle scars to prove it. Now, onto the crash course in bootstrapping.Lesson 1: Start With a Highly Profitable Idea, Product or ServiceThis step is absolutely key to your success. If you were to tell me you’d like to start a café or restaurant business, I’d do my best to talk you out of it. If you were one of my soldiers, I’d order you to rethink your decision. It is next to impossible to bootstrap a restaurant or retail food business with very little money. However, if food was your passion, I would present you with some case studies of how others have bootstrapped and acquired the start up funding needed to grow successful food businesses. Some suggestions? How about a Personal Chef Service, or perhaps you could start up a company baking delicious energy bars and organic snacks, like the owner of Clif Bar & Company.A Case StudyThat’s exactly what Gary Erickson (owner and founder of Clif Bar & Company) did. He began trying out energy bar recipes in his mother’s kitchen. This is a definite bootstrap financing success story. In 1990, Gary lived in a garage with his dog. Two years later, he launched what would become one of the most successful natural and organic privately held snack food companies, with sales topping $150 million. The future for Clif Bar remains bright. Especially since they have me as one of their loyal customers. I’m munching on one right now, as I peck away on my computer. I would say my family goes through a case of the organic Z Bars in a week! 
Lesson 2: Plan a Bootstrap Business Start Up Funding StrategyThis requires that you first have a streamlined personal budget in place. Once you have accomplished that goal, the next step is to create a bootstrap financing plan for your business. This will involve making a complete list of your start up and operating costs, and employing varied bootstrap finance tactical maneuvers to reduce and/or eliminate many of these costs. Lesson 3: Learn the Art of BootstrappingBootstrapping is not just self financing. It is the art of acquiring business start up funding sources that don’t put you into long term, or high interest rate debt.Did you know that you can find free sources of start up funding? Turn your dreams into a success story. Get on the road to success by starting your business TODAY – even if you have little money, poor credit, or don’t own a home.To learn more, request your free copy of “The Bootstrapper’s Business Start-Up Planner”, by visiting my website.©2009 Kimberly Kelly – All Rights Reserved Worldwide.Permission to reprint this article is granted strictly on the condition that it be reprinted in its entirety, with all live links and author bio in tact.
After Fashion School: Top Qualities of a Fashion Designer
Becoming a fashion designer is a demanding pursuit in such a competitive industry. Fashion design jobs are coveted and only a few attain the success they seek. If you are considering becoming a fashion designer, you’ll want to know what it takes to succeed in industry and fashion school. You can begin to gauge your qualifications based on whether you have any of the following qualities, and whether you can achieve them.Fashion knowledge – Knowledge of today’s hottest trends is an important piece of the fashion industry. Knowing the trends- good, bad, or indifferent- is important. In addition you should have a decent knowledge of current, top designers.Creativity – Fashion is an art like any other. In addition to a love of fashion, it is important to exercise creativity in your use of it. Creativity is a trait that you must already possess; fashion school can help you creatively expand on the many layers of the fashion industry.Originality – Having your own personal style is one thing, but being able to construct a style all your own is another task all together. This requires creativity in addition to originality. It is alright to use other people and aspects of the industry for inspiration, but you need to be able to create looks that are new and exciting.Technical skills – The most highly skilled designers have an exceptional balance of artistic vision and technical skills. This means that in addition to being able to imagine designs, they are then also able to construct them. These skills can be learned in fashion school or through a fashion apprenticeship. In this case, the more you know about sewing ahead of time, the better.Read more about Careers in Fashion here.